A Different Christmas
by ThisOneGeek
Summary: Hermione wants to celebrate a normal Christmas. Just a bit of holiday cheer during a war. AU. Harry/Hermione.


Harry looked over at her as she read. Her face scrunched in concentration as she deciphered The Tales of Beedle the Bard, with Spellman's Syllabary threatening to fall off of the arm of her sagging chair. Ever since Ron had left - the git - she had been mostly absorbing herself in the books. The tears had visibly stopped long ago, but the pain resonated off of her.

He had kept his distance ever since he found out about Ron's interest in Hermione, and had been trying to keep it since he had left, just in case he had planned on returning, however the git would manage it, but he couldn't help but feel like it was a mistake. Obviously, allowing Ron to get that close to her had only made her hurt increase tenfold, causing more pain than the love Harry had hoped would come with the relationship. Whenever she would cry in the night, he would pull her into a gentle hug, just enough to remind her there was still someone who wouldn't hurt her.

Hermione turned a page, jarring Harry from his thoughts as she continued to frantically flip through Spellman's Syllabary, most likely having found a rune she had yet to learn. She scanned the center of a page with the utmost scrutiny, before sighing. "Harry, could you help me for a second?" She asked, never lifting her gaze from the books in front of her.

She turned the book around quickly, her finger glued to the page as she pointed to a symbol. "You ever see that symbol before?"

"I've never taken Ancient Runes, Hermione." Harry said quietly. "But it does look familiar… Isn't that the symbol Luna's dad was wearing round his neck?"

"That's what I'd thought too…"

"Then isn't that Grindelwald's mark?"

"What?" She gaped at him. "Grindelwald's mark? I didn't even know he had a mark." She quickly pulled out another book and began to flip through it fervently. Harry did the most dangerous thing he would ever do in his life - including having stared at Voldemort, face to noseless face: He closed Hermione's book. She slowly looked up, a malice imbued twinkle sitting behind her glare.

Harry went pale. Dropping his wand, he slowly put his hands up in the air - bringing her book with them. "Don't take that too seriously. Krum told me, and for all we know, he may still be a bit messed up from the Imperious that had been placed on him during the tournament."

She stared at him for a few moment, her hand twitching to grab her wand, before she snatched the book back, carefully sliding it into her bag. Harry didn't speak as he allowed for the tension to slowly die down in the air. He eyed her hair carefully, hoping that it didn't spark - it'd started doing it right about when Ron left - as it was tied back, most likely against its will.

It was around twenty minutes later before he broke the silence. "Hermione?"

"Hmm?"

"I want to go to Godric's Hollow." He said nervously, carefully watching her reaction.

She sighed. "I've been thinking along the same lines -for the sword, obviously." She answered the look of confusion on his face. "That's where Godric Gryffindor lived, hence the name, and so it seems like the only logical choice." Once again, she sighed. "It's just, can we wait a couple weeks?" She pleaded.

"Why?" Harry asked a little too quickly and forcefully, causing a moment of hesitation to flitter across her face.

"It's just…" Hermione took a deep breath. "You remember that muggle newspaper you brought back a couple weeks ago?" He nodded. "Well I started recording the date since then… And it's Christmas a week from now." She said slowly.

"And?" Harry asked, trying not to let his disappointment and temper show.

Hermione grimaced. "It's just…" She seemed to be holding her composure together the best she could, but Harry could see the cracks beginning to form. "With Ron leaving and all, and us not being with our families, I just… I just…" A sob was forming in her throat, stopping her from talking without the undesired effect of crying.

Harry pulled her into a hug as he sat on the arm of the chair. She place her head on his chest, and the tears began to flow. "I just want something normal, Harry." She said quietly, tears streaming down her cheeks, silently soaking Harry's shirt.

"Alright." Harry agreed. "If it's what you need, then I'll do anything."

She quickly lifted her head, her eyes puffy from crying. "Really?"

She gasped as Harry pulled her out of the seat, turning on the radio with a flick of his wand. He danced her back and forth as the Christmas music played in the background. It was a mixture of muggle and wizard music, creating a blend of rather different musical styles.

"But if you want to celebrate Christmas," He spun her around as she laughed, "We're not going to do it half-arsed." He dipped her before spinning her once more in time, more or less, to the music. "I completely expect a present from you, Miss Granger."

"Since when have you called me Miss Granger?" She chuckled as he pulled her back to him, relaxing herself into a more practical stance to dance in, without so many spins.

Harry shrugged, grinning as he saw her face slowly becoming a bit more cheerful. "Since when have you wanted normal? I mean, you do remember who you share this tent with, right?" She rolled her eyes at him, but a grin continued to spread across her face.

They continued to dance for another half hour before they both felt too tired to continue, each one passing out into their beds. They spent the next three days fleshing out the plan for their trip to Godric's Hollow, They had decided on Polyjuice potion, and on an "itinerary" of sorts that they would follow as they looked throughout the village. One goal was to possibly find Bathilda Bagshot, a witch who Harry had overheard a conversation about regarding her living near the Dumbledores.

Two days before Christmas, they apparated to a new location, quickly setting up camp. Harry had been sitting in the armchair, looking over their plans for Godric's Hollow, when he heard a loud crash come from outside the tent. He bolted out of the chair, wand in hand, and ran to the entrance of the tent, where he carefully peered outside.

Relieved, he saw Hermione grinning from ear to ear as she stood in front of a small, floating, fir tree. "I know what you're thinking," Hermione began, "and yes, this is completely necessary." Harry sighed before moving out of the way to allow Hermione to float the tree in through the small entranceway. She told Harry to take over with the levitation charm, which he did happily, and she quickly created a stand out of a rather large rock she had found outside. Carefully, they lowered the tree into the base, and

Hermione disappeared once more to get some water.

They kept the radio on that night, Christmas music continuing to play, as neither had the heart to turn it off. Harry smiled as Hermione grinned at the tree. She was the most excited he'd ever seen her as she seemed to want to jump like a small child around the tree, something Harry would have been more than happy to see.

The next day, Christmas Eve, Harry left the tent to visit a nearby village, and returned to see Hermione creating non-burning balls of light around the tree. He quickly shrunk what he held in his hand, and placed it in his back pocket before helping to decorate the tree. For a few hours, they created the lights, transfigured different ornaments, and topped off the tree with a star before standing back to admire their work.

Hermione's eyes were wide in awe, her face glowing with happiness. A large smile, much larger than he had seen in the past few weeks, was plastered onto her face. Suddenly, she pulled him into a hug. "Thank you." She whispered, before standing on her toes to plant a soft kiss on his cheek. Her face turned scarlet, a beautiful color on her. Mindlessly, she flicked the radio back on and pulled Harry to dance. Once again, they danced until they were both too tired to continue.

Harry woke early on Christmas morning. As he moved quietly through the tent, he softly kissed Hermione's sleeping form on her forehead before continuing to move towards the tree. With little noise, he placed two presents under the tree, having wrapped them magically, and a card on top.

He sat down at the table noiselessly, and began to flip through the pages of A History of Magic before stopping at a section on Godric's Hollow. He read for a half an hour before he set the book back down. Grinning, he leaned over the table quietly, switching the radio on, causing Christmas music to pour out of the speakers.

Hermione jumped in her bed, her hair jutting out in curls at odd angles. She rubbed her bleary eyes before she took in her surroundings and smiled. "Merry Christmas, Hermione!" Harry called from the table.

"Merry Christmas, Harry!" She slowly climbed out of her blankets and began to make her way towards the table, when she stopped suddenly. "What's that?" Her gaze lead directly to the two presents under the tree.

"I believe those would be presents." Harry chuckled.

Hermione looked between Harry and the presents, finally settling her gaze on Harry. "Those aren't for me, are they?" Harry nodded and began to laugh as she stared openmouthed at him. "But… Thank you! But… You really didn't-"

"Just open them, Hermione!" He levitated the presents toward her, which she caught and carried towards the table.

She stared down at the presents and the card before frowning. "I didn't get you anything though."

"It's fine. I didn't need or want you to, anyways." He smiled softly at her to reassure her it was alright. "But, if I were you," He arranged the two presents in front of the card,

"I would open them in this order."

Hermione raised an eyebrow at him before she cautiously grabbed the first present and began to tear at the wrapping. Once again, her bottom jaw dropped as she stared at the object in her hands. "Where did you get this?" In her hand, was a medium sized slab of chocolate.

"Well, a muggle was just about to throw it out - she had been yelling at her kids for stealing it - and I grabbed it out of the air before it landed in the trash. It was still perfectly wrapped."

"We should probably keep this for Dementors-"

"That's not why I caught it, Hermione." Harry stopped her. "If we need chocolate that badly, we could get more. This is your present."

She debated internally for a few minutes until she set it aside to be eaten later. Moving onto the next present, Harry once again laughed at how she gaped at him, completely in shock. "Harry…"

"Don't." He cut her off once more. The silver locket glittered in her hands, casting off a lovely twinkle when turned the right way. "A girl was getting pretty mad at her boyfriend, and she nearly hit me when she threw it. It just happened to 'disappear' after that." He grinned at her disapproving expression until it finally wavered into a smile.

"I just…" She sighed. "I didn't get you anything, and these two are fantastic on their own…"

"You didn't open the card yet…" He slid it forward into her hands. Once again, she raised her brow in suspicion, but nonetheless began to tear open the card.

She studied the card for a moment before she pulled him into a hug, kissing him. It was a few seconds before she pulled away, her cheeks tinted pink. She held him, brown eyes staring into green.

The card had read:

 _No matter if you got me a present or not,_  
 _the best present I could have gotten is to share this_  
 _time with the most beautiful and intelligent witch in the world._  
 _Merry Christmas_

"Merry Christmas, Hermione."

"Merry Christmas, Harry."


End file.
